18/03/2012
NEWS STORY
Mat Coch writes:
It was like a scene from a Hollywood blockbuster when crowd favourite Daniel Ricciardo scythed his way from eleventh to ninth within three corners of the chequered flag.
In a chaotic final lap which saw the retirement of fifth placed Pastor Maldonado and the dramatic slowing of Nico Rosberg, a gaggle of cars jockeyed for position. Jean-Eric Vergne, Sergio Perez, Paul di Resta and Ricciardo ducked and weaved like prize fighters in the approach to the line, the quintet separated by less than four-tenths of a second at the flag.
On ageing tyres Perez was slow, a cork in a bottle ahead of di Resta, and the pair of Toro Rosso's. Ricciardo pounced on his teammate at Turn 13 before out dragging di Resta's Force India to the flag. It was a dramatic end to an equally dramatic race for the Australian, who'd only narrowly avoided the ignominy of retiring at the first corner.
Contact with the Bruno Senna threw the Williams skywards, also damaging Ricciardo's car. "I was just grateful I could continue because I had pretty heavy contact, I was sure there was more damage than the front wing," the Toro Rosso driver admitted.
A mid race safety car to clear Vitaly Petrov's Caterham from the front straight threw Ricciardo the lifeline he needed. Catching the tail of the field he used the opportunity to take on fresh rubber, opting for a set of new soft tyres while those around him - with the exception of his teammate - were on the harder compound.
It gave Ricciardo the edge he needed, quickly dispensing with Kovalainen before joining his teammate in the battle which would ultimately net him ninth spot.
"To come back from where we did was a huge result," he said after the race. "Maybe if we kept the nose clean it would have been much, much better, but if we can continue this pace for the next few races we'll definitely be trying to get some more points."